I. Technical Field
The present subject matter relates to power management units and switching regulators.
II. Background Art
Devices, such as mobile devices including smart phones and tablets, have power management units (PMUs) that control switching regulators providing fast-response voltage outputs for processors of such devices. Switching regulators operate by providing processor-level voltage outputs in phases (e.g., single-, 3-, 6-phase outputs, etc.) from system-level voltage inputs. Single-phase switching regulators with high output current (e.g., >5 A) require large, expensive output inductors.
Current multi-phase switching regulators provide large output currents by dividing load current up amongst multiple output channels. These multi-phase switching regulators consume large quiescent bias current because each channel has a separate, active controller. In current multi-phase switching regulators, unused slave phases remain configured as slave phases during operation.